Comments on: Braised Short Ribs with Horseradish Gremolata and Pumpkin Orzo

By: David Leite

David Leite — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 20:48:15 +0000

Maggie, a few things.

First, Mario Batali doesn’t use $40 of Barolo for this dish. It was discovered he uses a simple, good cheap bottle of red wine.

Two, traditionally, gremolata is a chopped mix of herbs and garlic that gives a lift in flavor to heavier, oftentimes, fatty dishes.

By: maggie simonelli

maggie simonelli — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 20:37:38 +0000

Rich…A layered taste of textures. Pumpkin Orso was particularly delicious. I substituted a Barbaresco for the Barolo, as I was able to buy a half bottle of it at the wine store instead of a $40 bottle of Barolo. The meal did take quite a long time to prepare so next time I will probably braise the beef shortribs earlier.
I have never used gremolata before and truthfully do not know what it is…perhaps you can explain…but it was delicious as the combination of lemon/fresh horseradish/parsley seemed to melt over the meat and create a wonderful new layer of taste to the meal. Thanks! Maggie

By: Greg

Greg — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 19:30:53 +0000

The grated horseradish overpowers the gremolata. I found that by using 1/2 a bunch of Italian parsley and 2 tbsp of the horseradish, and finely mincing the mixture, it works better.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Wed, 15 Jan 2003 19:29:01 +0000

These braised short ribs are a great dish. I loved it. We made it the day before, because we wanted to give the flavors time to meld.

Two tips: 1. I put the herbs in a small cheesecloth satchel so I didn’t have to fish out woody stems. 2. After letting the dish cool, I refrigerated it overnight. The next morning, I skimmed of the fat that had congealed on top. It made the final dish much more appetizing.

By: Testers' Choice

Testers' Choice — Tue, 05 Nov 2002 19:25:04 +0000

[Anonymous] Braised short ribs: The short ribs were beautiful. The meat fell off the bone, as promised, and the sauce was wonderful for a crisp autumn evening.

Gremolata: I was a bit disappointed by this. I love horseradish, but all I was able to taste was the parsley. I don’t know how to solve this, maybe add salt or lemon juice? I’ll experiment next time. I also ended up with way more of the gremolata than I needed. The amount of the gremolata could have been used on twice as many servings.

Orzo: This is a great recipe. I love unique side dishes like this, which can serve as a bed for a piece of meat or fish. It’s particularly wonderful this time of year. My orzo got a little overcooked, because I was doing other things. I would have liked it if there was a time estimate in the recipe of how long it would take the orzo to absorb the chicken stock.

Overall I give this recipe my highest recommendation. The long cooking time for the meat gives you a chance to prepare everything else. The final result is beautiful and satisfying.

By: Testers' Choice

Testers' Choice — Tue, 05 Nov 2002 19:22:19 +0000

[Amy Godwin] This braised short rib recipe was very easy to follow and yielded great results. The gremolata was a very nice accent to the dish. It was amazing that such a garnish could result in such a nice overall flavor. The pumpkin orzo, on the other hand, was a nice accompaniment but was very time-consuming to cook. It took three different pans. I make risotto frequently and would have been happy with that as my filler. I assume I could make the orzo in a similar manner and yield good results.